Billy Apple
Aotearoa New Zealand / United States, b.1935, d.2021
Censure Realised, Brooke/Gifford Gallery Christchurch
- 1979
- Bromide black and white photograph, red ink, wooden door panel, wooden skirting board
- Purchased with the support of Christchurch City Council's Challenge Grant to the Christchurch Art Gallery Foundation, 2010.
- Reproduced with permission
- 970 x 610 x 5mm
- 2010/007.a-c
- View on google maps
Tags: art galleries (buildings), posters, words
In 1979, as part of a series interrogating the ‘white cube’ spaces of New Zealand dealer galleries, Billy Apple removed two additions to the architecture of Christchurch’s Brooke Gifford Gallery, a plywood panel and an extra piece of skirting board. These ‘improvements’, which restored the space to its original state, challenged the idea of the gallery as a given or neutral space, drawing attention to the importance of context. The photograph, taken by then-Gallery photographer Glenn Jowett, shows the ‘censured’ elements with the objects Billy removed placed on either side.
(Perilous: Unheard Stories from the Collection, 6 August 2022- )
Exhibition History
Related
Commentary
Barbara Brooke: The Woman Behind Ascent
The 1960s brought television, youth culture, jet aircraft and The Beatles to New Zealand. It also saw the emergence of the professional contemporary artist. Dealer galleries were on the rise across the country, devoted to the promotion and sale of contemporary artists’ work, particularly through solo shows, and with them came the possibility of an acknowledged career with the objective of full-time practice. Artists were producing work with a general sense of confidence and this lively art community needed to be documented.